Mystery Plane

[Don Orr]

This forum is AMAZING! So much knowledge freely given.

[Jeff Heath]

What a beautiful plane! I would not want to be the guy that has to profile that iron, though.....no fun at all. Nice find.

[Don McManus]

This just a wild guess, but the test piece looks a bit like a raised panel.

[Rob Kukta]

Hello Rob,

this is a sash coping plane, used for coping sash molding. Its use is explained for example in "The Handplane Book":
http://books.google.de/books?id=lSVMWpzqfNgC&pg=PA223

I've never seen one like yours, but I have found a drawing copied from a 1910 catalog in a German book about cabinetmaker tools ("Das Werkzeug des Schreiners und Drechslers" by Guenther Heine).



Shown here are the sash coping plane ("Kontrahobel" in German) on the left and the plane making the matching profile on the right.

Nice find, Rob, and quite rare in my opinion.

Wolfgang

You are my hero, Wolfgang! Thank you so much for finding the plane.

Regards,
Rob

[Rob Kukta]

Thank you for not only sharing pictures, but also trying it out. Some collectors would be afraid of scratching the patina. Its a tool and should be used, carefully of course.

Thanks Eric...tools are the only type of collection that you can use...that's why I do it. Using them is a way it become immersed in the history they represent. (I suppose one could collect and use post stamps or coins too, but such a collection wouldn't last very long). Also, if I don't use them, my wife will never believe me when I tell her that I need them.

[Jim Koepke]

(I suppose one could collect and use post stamps or coins too, but such a collection wouldn't last very long)

I know a funny story about this. I used to be a coin collector. Many years ago stores in the business were often "Stamp & Coin" dealers.

One of these wanted to get out of the stamp side of the business. This was before the internet.

He figured he would get stamp collectors mad at him by running an ad saying he would pay half of face value for uncanceled stamps. Non-collectors from all over brought in all kinds of postage stamps that had been tucked away in drawers or boxes. He even tried convincing people the stamps were still usable.

With his reputation on the line he ended up buying a lot of postage at half price. He used them to mail out his news letters.

And that is how my (excited) stamp collecting neighbor, at the time, got a canceled block of Civil War Veterans 50th anniversary commemorative stamps.

jtk